The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

"Please rest assured, Miss Aria. I have confidence in what I am about to convey upon you," Alena excitedly jumped, clasping her hands in delight as she danced out of joy.

Alena's reactions were so vivid and real.

"It better be like that.. or else," Aria smirked. "You won't be able to afford laughing like that anymore,"

The girl's sparkling eyes were just too funny, considering how close she had been to death just a few moments ago.

"So.. what's the deal here?" Aria questioned.

The girl perked up at her words. She began to relax and composed herself.

"Ah, right. For further introductions, I, Alena Croft, am a <Player> just like you. My power.. is a bit peculiar, to say the least. My job is called the <Prophet>, and as the name suggests, I have the opportunity to look into someone's past and future to a certain point. Of course, the cognitive abilities won't be served in a lucid way. Unclear as it is, I am able to get some valuable information from it through deductions and investigations. Linking the clues provides me with a strong hypothesis," Alena started her explanation.

"Slow down," Aria raised her hand up, stopping the girl from going any further. "Alena Croft, a <Player> with the job <Prophet>, that's your identity. What I want to know the most, however, is the thing you need from me, since you're here too seek me out?" Aria placed her hand on her hip as she spoke.

"I am not going to have a full on conversation with you right now, I still have things to do. Summarize everything, and we will pick out a date to discuss it further if I am interested in your purpose," Aria added.

"Well then.. if that is the case.. In short, I am looking to become your information dealer," Alena announced.

Aria raised a brow at the girl's words.

"...Are you talking about knowledge? If you are able to get valuable information, then you should already know that I have a wide range of skills.. including my precious knowledge,"

The knowledge Aria repeatedly wielded as a weapon of sorts.

"No, I am not talking about the ones you already possess. I am talking about... special knowledge. For example, information about the System that will not be released before the set due date. I am able to peek into that. Aren't you interested?" Alena flashed a bright smile.

Aria grew still as she continued to observe Alena's gestures.

Alena, seeing that Aria was still skeptical and confused, proceeded with her speech.

"I can also tell what you have been doing just now.. For an instance, I know that you have cleared a dungeon where a monster you called 'Death Cluster' brought down one of your teammates, and that a Necromancer named Leonis was the final boss. You defeated him without much force and is here right now about to go back into your team," Alena narrated on top of her head without stop.

She sounded like she was there, going through the agonizing experience with them.

Aria began to see the importance.

"..That is indeed knowledge you wouldn't be able to obtain unless you got into the dungeon with us.. which you clearly did not," Aria crossed her arms, becoming more and more taken aback by the girl's confident display. "Tell me more,"

"..Now here is the spicy part. I will give you a spoiler about the System, but.. I won't be telling everything since it is my bargaining chip," Alena dragged her words out. "Miss Summoner, you should be expecting a new event to come out. It will affect every <Player>,"

"Event, huh?" Aria gestured for the girl to continue.

Alena nodded.

"To break the concept of <Players> down, you need to understand four things. Each <Player> will have their own job, a gimmick, a Main, and the Tower,"

'Tower?' Amongst the three, the tower and the gimmick were the only ones she was unfamiliar with.

"I'm sure you are curious about the tower. Well, to clarify, the tower hasn't been opened yet. This is the event I was talking about. No other <Player> knows about this upcoming feature.. except you and me right now," Alena knew what Aria was confused about and spoke without restraint.

'..!' Aria was beginning to understand. What the girl meant by 'helping' her.

Getting a headstart on things. It was a huge bargaining chip desirable to many.

"The other thing you don't know, the Gimmick, is basically a feature each player has. My Gimmick helps me to discover the development of the world's situation better than anybody else," Alena explained,

"To briefly explain, I am able to be one of the System's indirect administrator. The System gives me the authority to monitor the changes that relate to the <Players>, the <Main System>, and the world itself,"

"..Alright, I've gotten the taste of your power, but.. I'm still not getting the point here. What do you desire from me?" The girl was practically giving her gold bars left and right.

It was a question of 'what can Aria offer for this girl in exchange for her powers?'

Alena plastered a depreciating smile on her face as she began to lower her head.

"You are.. an anomaly to this world. Someone who shouldn't exist. Although I still don't know what the causes of your condition are, I'm still able to know that you are different," Alena raised her hand and extended it towards Aria's direction.

"What I desire is something that concerns the upcoming tower events. This place isn't suitable for sharing the complete information. I would like to propose an alliance, so we would have to get to know each other better. If you want to gain more information, please call me through this phone tomorrow. I have saved my number on the contact list, I'll come to pick you up," Alena seemed to be in a hurry, as she turned around right after she gave Aria a rectangular device.

"Ao? I have my own mobile phone.. though?" Aria took out her own device and stared at the two with confused eyes.

"The one I gave you is encrypted with a lot of stuff, you should check it out once you are free," Alena said before going and disappearing off into the unknown once and for all.

Aria, who was left alone, became confused on what to do.

"..Strange," Aria commented, raising a brow as she thought about the girl.

'Alena Croft.'

The girl's name.

Repeating it a few times inside her head, she put the two devices into her pockets and sighed. She then started to continue forward with her walk back to the [Golden Insignia] base.

Alena Croft. A new variable that hadn't appeared in the past. A young child with nothing but supportive powers. To say that she is befriending her because she desired protection was not a far-fetched idea.

Aria disliked to be taken advantage of, but her judgement would be decided after knowing the girl more.

'I wonder how many cards do each of us has.' Aria was pretty sure that she had the upper hand.

'Well, I don't have to trust her fully even if we do ally with each other.' Aria thought.

Just like what she was doing with [Golden Insignia] and [Lichte]. She was lucky since she had quite the exceptional teamwork and understanding with both teams, but that did not mean that she was fully trusting any of them.

Sure, they were the closest people she currently had, but apart from Rallaka and Dianthe, which were special cases, she had not learned to trust them at all.

Aria came back to the base and was welcomed with quite the strange gaze from Lein. Although he did not question much, he still spoke to her like normal.

A strange tension was there. They were both aware of it.

"Where are the others?" Aria asked, fetching a glass of water from the counter.

"They are off to do some businesses.. Right, Sung-ha wanted to talk to you. To all of us, actually," Lein said, giving Aria a meaningful gaze.

"..Is that so? I might be busy tomorrow, but tell me when it's going to be held," Aria shrugged.

Lein nodded, and they proceeded to have further small talks before Aria left for her own room.

Lein watched as the tall figure left, his eyes flashing with many emotions.

One of them being suspicion.

______

The next day, Aria woke up and was immediately reminded about the mobile phone she was given.

Aria called Alena, conveying that she wanted to know more about what Alena said.

On the other side, Alena responded with an ecstatic tone that could be felt through the phone line, and she then mentioned that she would plan their meeting in a short flash.

"Umm.. Miss, you're free today, right?" Alena was still giddy, so her tone still emanated happiness as she spoke.

"Yes," Aria replied shortly.

"Then, let us just have the meeting today. Please wait a moment, I shall arrive at your place in an hour!" Alena said, ending the call right after.

Aria was left speechless as she put the phone aside once more, sighing as she got up and began to get ready for the day.